Stuart Sutherland (1) (1927–1998)
Author of Irrationality
For other authors named Stuart Sutherland, see the disambiguation page.
Stuart Sutherland (1) has been aliased into N. S. Sutherland.
Works by Stuart Sutherland
Works have been aliased into N. S. Sutherland.
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- SUTHERLAND, Stuart
- Birthdate
- 1927-03-26
- Date of death
- 1998-11-08
- Gender
- male
- Short biography
- After reading PPP at Oxford and winning the John Locke Prize in Mental Philosophy he worked on shape discrimination in octopuses and other animals with J Z Young in Naples. From a University Lectureship in Oxford he was appointed in 1964 to head the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the infant University of Sussex, where he spent the rest of his academic life. Under its autocratic but always benevolent Chairman, the Lab quickly became one of the most prestigious psychology departments in Britain - or, indeed, anywhere - supplying talent to Cambridge, Glasgow, Princeton and Edinburgh. Stuart's judgment was much sought after by colleagues and feared by the readers of his pungent book reviews. His famous book Breakdown broke new ground in the public airing of private agonies, and helped a number of readers to cope with their own psychological problems. His last book - Irrationality - has some rude things to say about judges, generals and financiers. He was an impossible person to deal with, but all who could survive his insults thought the world of him.
(Christopher Longuet-Higgins, Emeritus Professor at Sussex)
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/internal/bull...
Members
Reviews
Fascinating. More than that, entertaining, and recommended.
Ironically, ordering this book was an irrational act. I was actually after some sort of primer on probability and for some odd reason (booze, fatigue, Amazon Madness) decided that this book was the very thing to educate somebody like me, who associates maths with long, lazy afternoons in the classroom, gently dozing while Miss Henshaw tried, for the hundredth time, to instil the basics of trig into a class that was by turns show more reluctant, sleepy and surly (a struggle that was going to lead up to the ‘episode’ and her eventually leaving to become a chicken farmer).
Although it does deal with probability and with statistics, and deals with them well and in terms that, after a few sulks and a little weep, even I eventually got my head around, it’s not about probability. It’s about irrationality and it’s interesting and very, very pertinent to the way that people (i.e. you) live their lives. An irrational act, you see, is one that you think thorough before committing. It’s not walking out of the newsagents with a copy of ‘Total Carp’ instead of the Racing Post because you are preoccupied, it’s certainly not having an instant, emotional reaction to something. No, it’s thinking about something, considering the issue and then making a decision that is based on flawed information, or not enough information or, gawd help you, ‘intuition’.
So, went for a book on probability, ended up with a study of irrationaility, what’s the likelihood of that? I have no idea because I have yet to read a book on probability but what I can tell you is two things; the first is that this book explains that if you make a purchase you may have made in haste or error, you will work hard to justify the qualities of the purchase to others, and hence yourself. The second is that this book is excellent!
In this case, that happens to be true.
The book goes on to explain a number of things that you sort of always knew, but in an erudite and informed manner, underpinned by actual studies. Prior to this I thought that people were just stupid, now I know they are irrational.
The book is awash with studies. Psychologists are a strange breed and seem to break down into certain types; benign, harmless and ruthless. The ruthless ones are good but best of all are those that are both ruthless and cruel. They have no problem at all with conducting the sort of experiments that leave a lasting psychological effect when you read about them, never mind when you are participating. These vary from proving that you can be an easily led sadist to proving, clinically, that you are an easily led stupid person.
Just as you finish laughing at the easily led you read that those who are stubborn and bloody-minded are even worse, because they make up their minds about something at the start of a process and then bend the rest of the evidence to fit their preconception, rather than be led by the evidence. This is a problem if you are, say, a doctor. This is more of a problem if you are, say, a patient and your doctor is prone to such behaviour.
With a wealth of tests and data to call on, the examples are many and it’s interesting to see how work in a lab relates to the real world. If you work in an office in any large company you will cringe as you recognise working practices, appointments in particular, as being irrational. You will certainly recognise the flaws and behaviours of others as irrational, then cringe as you see an example of your own sort of behaviour described in the same way.
Warning: there is maths in this book. There is statistics and probability and some of it had me re-reading passages a couple of times, just about hanging on to some of the concepts by my fingertips, but stick with it and the rewards are incalculable (especially if your maths is as crap as mine) as whole new concepts unfold that will allow you to sneer with authority at authority. show less
Ironically, ordering this book was an irrational act. I was actually after some sort of primer on probability and for some odd reason (booze, fatigue, Amazon Madness) decided that this book was the very thing to educate somebody like me, who associates maths with long, lazy afternoons in the classroom, gently dozing while Miss Henshaw tried, for the hundredth time, to instil the basics of trig into a class that was by turns show more reluctant, sleepy and surly (a struggle that was going to lead up to the ‘episode’ and her eventually leaving to become a chicken farmer).
Although it does deal with probability and with statistics, and deals with them well and in terms that, after a few sulks and a little weep, even I eventually got my head around, it’s not about probability. It’s about irrationality and it’s interesting and very, very pertinent to the way that people (i.e. you) live their lives. An irrational act, you see, is one that you think thorough before committing. It’s not walking out of the newsagents with a copy of ‘Total Carp’ instead of the Racing Post because you are preoccupied, it’s certainly not having an instant, emotional reaction to something. No, it’s thinking about something, considering the issue and then making a decision that is based on flawed information, or not enough information or, gawd help you, ‘intuition’.
So, went for a book on probability, ended up with a study of irrationaility, what’s the likelihood of that? I have no idea because I have yet to read a book on probability but what I can tell you is two things; the first is that this book explains that if you make a purchase you may have made in haste or error, you will work hard to justify the qualities of the purchase to others, and hence yourself. The second is that this book is excellent!
In this case, that happens to be true.
The book goes on to explain a number of things that you sort of always knew, but in an erudite and informed manner, underpinned by actual studies. Prior to this I thought that people were just stupid, now I know they are irrational.
The book is awash with studies. Psychologists are a strange breed and seem to break down into certain types; benign, harmless and ruthless. The ruthless ones are good but best of all are those that are both ruthless and cruel. They have no problem at all with conducting the sort of experiments that leave a lasting psychological effect when you read about them, never mind when you are participating. These vary from proving that you can be an easily led sadist to proving, clinically, that you are an easily led stupid person.
Just as you finish laughing at the easily led you read that those who are stubborn and bloody-minded are even worse, because they make up their minds about something at the start of a process and then bend the rest of the evidence to fit their preconception, rather than be led by the evidence. This is a problem if you are, say, a doctor. This is more of a problem if you are, say, a patient and your doctor is prone to such behaviour.
With a wealth of tests and data to call on, the examples are many and it’s interesting to see how work in a lab relates to the real world. If you work in an office in any large company you will cringe as you recognise working practices, appointments in particular, as being irrational. You will certainly recognise the flaws and behaviours of others as irrational, then cringe as you see an example of your own sort of behaviour described in the same way.
Warning: there is maths in this book. There is statistics and probability and some of it had me re-reading passages a couple of times, just about hanging on to some of the concepts by my fingertips, but stick with it and the rewards are incalculable (especially if your maths is as crap as mine) as whole new concepts unfold that will allow you to sneer with authority at authority. show less
This is the first pop science book on rationality I ever read, and it made a great impression on me. Of course, this is now more than twenty years old (the first edition dates from 1992), and probably nowadays there are many eqivalent books, but this one gives a good overview of many common pitfalls in decision making, illustrating many cognitive biases: from selective evidence, to overconfidence and ignoring or misinterpreting evidence. So you wont' get exposure to the latest developments show more on decision making, but the topics he treats are still current - Sutherland was a psychologist by trade, and he seems to know very well what he was writing about, adding to this a gripping writing style.
One thing I learned is: if you phone your friend to tell him you wrecked his car, then tell him it was a joke, he will forever think of you as a bad driver, even if you returned the car he lent you in absolutely pristine conditions! The moral of it - careful when making jokes :-) show less
One thing I learned is: if you phone your friend to tell him you wrecked his car, then tell him it was a joke, he will forever think of you as a bad driver, even if you returned the car he lent you in absolutely pristine conditions! The moral of it - careful when making jokes :-) show less
Although this book is nearly thirty years old, it was a thought-provoking read and definitely made me think, which was why I wanted to read it in the first place. Some of the examples seemed a bit old-fashioned and there was a couple of lines of argument that I thought were a bit weak, but on the whole, very interesting.
This is a fascinating explanation of how irrational we all are. Using some very good and specific examples, Sutherland demonstrates just how common irrational behaviour is. Why, for example, do we setlle for less for ourselves than we might have just so as to prevent someone else from getting more than us? Very readable!
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